Video Game Thread 2.0

[ThunderWulf]

I believe it was Mother 3 that did this, but the game would crash as you're starting the fight against the final boss and when you restarted the game all your saves were wiped.

It was actually Earthbound, Cracked did a list on this subject about 2 years ago.

Another example I know of is how Spyro: Year of the Dragon made pirates rip their hair out for months with all it's anti-cracking traps.  Here's a 3 page article on it

Ah yes, I knew it was that series, but wasn't sure which game.

[RavynousHunter]

I think all of the interesting anti-cracking features that screw with pirated copies of the game are infinitely more effective than DRM in preventing piracy.

Well, until they accidentally activate on legit copies. Or the pirates figure out how to get past it all.

Sadly, they almost always eventually figure out how to get around it. Some people put so much effort into pirating software, you'd think the skills they need could easily qualify them for a job that would give enough income to comfortably purchase games. I remember that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen had a little message in them for pirates at one point. If the game detected it was being emulated, at one point an NPC would say something like like "By the way, if you like the game, buy it or die." But you'd now be hard-pressed to find a GBA emulator that would give the message. You'd have to find an ancient early version of one from before the days when they reached perfect emulation.

Alas, most jobs care more about degrees than they do concrete proof of applicable skills.  You can code til you're blue in the face, but if you don't got that scrap of paper, they will not give even a single fuck.

[chitoryu12]

I think all of the interesting anti-cracking features that screw with pirated copies of the game are infinitely more effective than DRM in preventing piracy.

Well, until they accidentally activate on legit copies. Or the pirates figure out how to get past it all.

Sadly, they almost always eventually figure out how to get around it. Some people put so much effort into pirating software, you'd think the skills they need could easily qualify them for a job that would give enough income to comfortably purchase games. I remember that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen had a little message in them for pirates at one point. If the game detected it was being emulated, at one point an NPC would say something like like "By the way, if you like the game, buy it or die." But you'd now be hard-pressed to find a GBA emulator that would give the message. You'd have to find an ancient early version of one from before the days when they reached perfect emulation.

Alas, most jobs care more about degrees than they do concrete proof of applicable skills.  You can code til you're blue in the face, but if you don't got that scrap of paper, they will not give even a single fuck.

A good resume can overcome a lack of a fancy degree. It shows experience, which is especially useful in jobs like coding or creative jobs.

[Witchyjoshy]

Which doesn't do jack shit if you don't have anyone to actually speak for you on your behalf.

By which I mean references, that pesky thing that you need a job to get, but can't get a job without.

[syaoranvee]

The antipiracy methods seem to be more to delay then to stop indefinitely, like the article I posted which mentions that all the antipiracy traps and affects in Spyro: Year of the Dragon ultimately led to it being crackfree for 2 months after it came out.  Although that doesn't seem like a long time, you have to consider most cracks for games are done in a 24-48 hour window for a game without any grand antipiracy measures.  Also the fact:

Two months may not seem like a long time, but between 30 and 50 percent of most games' total sales occur in that time. Approximately 50 percent of the total sales of Spyro 2, up to December 2000, were in the first two months. Even games released in the middle of the year rather than the holiday season, such as Eidetic's Syphon Filter, make 30 percent of their total sales in the first two months. If YOTD follows the same trend, as it almost certainly will, those two to three months when pirated versions were unavailable must have reduced the overall level and impact of piracy. On top of this, since YOTD was released in Europe one month after the U.S., those two months protected early European sales from pirated copies of the U.S. version.

[Sleepy]

It's neat to see the creative anti-piracy measures for Spyro. I was unaware of them until now.

[Witchyjoshy]

Yeah, it puts a bad taste in my mouth to pirate a game anywhere within a few years of its release.

Then again I don't pirate much anymore, despite the temptations.  I've got lots of nice legal games sitting in my Steam account that didn't cost me an arm and a leg to buy.

[Søren]

This cry of fear game on steam, fuck me its weird. A little reliant on the jump out and boo scare, buuuuut the melee combat is a whore to work with

[Art Vandelay]

More games need to do that kind of stuff.

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By the way, I would really like all of you to upvote the fuck out of this:

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=140267269

Because, seriously, there are so few shmups on Steam! (And frankly, Nyu Media is gonna need all the help they can get. I mean, seriously, damnit!)

I'll vote for it if you vote for Papers, Please.

[Saturn500]

Done! This is another thing Steam needs more of: stuff nobody's played before!

Speaking of which, Reciever's pretty decent so far.

[Art Vandelay]

Most excellent. As promised, I've thrown my support behind ALLTYNEX.

[chitoryu12]

This cry of fear game on steam, fuck me its weird. A little reliant on the jump out and boo scare, buuuuut the melee combat is a whore to work with

Yeah, it used to be a Half-Life mod. Can't remember the name of it, but the creator did an earlier horror mod on the same engine.

[chad sexington]

New GTAV trailer, hot off the presses.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf38HiYPMiI" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bf38HiYPMiI</a>

[RavynousHunter]

I am almost to the point of freaking maniacal laughter.  Why?  Well, I've been playin Ultima Online off and on today, farming crazy ant people for their sweet, sweet monies (and salable items), and I've managed to make just over 43 grand in a single freaking day.  Why?  Let's just say that my mage lady is approaching near-deific levels of power...master mage and climbing!  Why do I need so much scratch?  Because I want a fucking house, and the one I want is 160,500 gold, and I'm just under the halfway point.

After that, get a few vendors, scatter a few runes to my house around Luna, and let the jack start rollin in.

[Witchyjoshy]

Making a bard seems pretty neat in Ultima Online.  Turn your foes against each other, stop them from attacking you...

And since it's such a modular system, I could easily make it a sneaky rogue who does it, or a mage who sings, or whatever.